Safety attachment for switch-stands.



0. BURKE & W. E. HARRINGTON.

SAFETY ATTACHMENT FOE SWITCH STANDS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 24, 1909.

950,274. Patented Feb. 22, 1910.

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I INVENTORY olmelzus fizz/Me A TTOHNE Y8 CORNELIUS BURKE AND WILLIAM E. HARRINGTON, 0F LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS.

SAFETY ATTACHMENT FOR SWITOI-LSTANDS.

Application filed September 24, 1909.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, CORNELIUS BURKE and \VILLIAM E. HARRINGTON, citizens of the United States, and both residents of Little Rock, in the county of Pulaski and State of Arkansas, have invented a new and Improved Safety Attachment for Switch- Stands, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

Among the principal objects which the present invention has in view, are: to provide an attachment for switch stands having various locking stations which will temporarily and permanently render the said locking stations inoperative, thereby rendering it impossible to leave a switch in an open condition unless such is desired; and to provide an attachmenthaving a construction adapted for the purpose above stated and which is durable, efiective and simple.

One embodiment of the present invention is disclosed in the accompanying drawings wherein Figure 1 is a side elevation of a switch station having attached thereto an attachment constructed in accordance with our invention; Fig. 2 is a horizontal section taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1, showing the attachment in conjunction with the switch table of a switch adapted to receive said attachment; Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view in plan showing a portion of a switch table having said attachment in position thereon; Fig. 4; is a vertical section taken on the line 44: of Fig. 3, of the attachment; Fig. 5 is a vertical section taken on the line 55 of Fig. 4 and enlarged therefrom, showing the attachment constructed in accordance with the present invention; and Fig. 6 is a perspective View of the attachment as constructed in accordance with the present invention.

The principal purpose for which our invention is peculiarly designed, is to provide an attachment for the switch stands most generally in use for sidings and other manually operated switches where there is a liability that the switch may be, through neglect, allowed to remain in the open or thrown position. In the form of switch to which we refer the standard or mast is operated by a horizontally extended hand lever which, when the mast is rotated to the proper position, rests above a recess or opening in the edge of a horizontal table. The table is designed to maintain the lever in an extended position excepting when the same Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 22, 1910.

Serial No. 519,314.

rests over one of the recesses mentioned, which permit the lever to be dropped into the said recess and into a dependent position.

In throwing the ordinary switch in the manner described, the swinging portion of the lever is dropped into one of the recesses above mentioned, which locks the switch in the adjusted position or the position leading into the siding or other junction. Through neglect, this is allowed to remain, and when the oncoming express or passing train traveling on the main track, arrives at the switch it is carried into the siding or junction, causing collision, derailment, or other fatal accident.

The attachment consists in a. block 7 adapted in size and shape to fit within the recess A formed in the table B, and extended inwardly from the edge thereof. The upper surface of the block 7 is adapted to remain flush with the surface of the table B, giving thereby, no chance for the lever handle C to be held thereby. The block 7 is provided with an extended pin or dowel 8, and is likewise provided with a. spring detent 9. The detent 9 is constructed from flat, spring metal and is secured to the block 7 by means of a bolt 10. The under side of the block 7 is provided with a groove to receive the straight extension of the detent 9, as seen in Figs. 4 and 5 of the drawings. The block 7 is further provided with an extension 11, in the end of which is an eyelet 12 designed to receive the ring 13 of a chain A. The chain 14 is anchored to the eyelet 15 on the switch stand.

The switch stand having the table B is provided with holes 16 bored from the recess A to receive the dowel 8. When the tables B are thus equipped and the stand is provided with one or more blocks 7 secured thereto by the chain 14, the operation is as follows: When it is designed that the switch is to be thrown temporarily, the operator first introduces the block 7 into position on the table B so that the swinging handle C cannot drop -into the recess A wherein the switch may be locked in the open or thrown position; in doing so, he inserts the dowel 8 within the hole 16, forcing the detent 9 under the structural flange depended from the edge of the table and about the opening of the recess A. The detent 9 is so shaped as to extend under and behind the said depended edge to hold the block 7 firmly in position and to prevent the same from withdrawing from engagement with the said recess. When it is desired to make this attachment permanent, the table is provided with a hole 17 extended from the top through the said table. A corresponding perforation 18 is formed in the detent 9. \Vhennow, the block '7 is placed in position with the dowel 8 extending into the hole 16, the holes 17 and 18 aline to receive a suitable fastening member such as a bolt, rivet, or other usual form of fastening device.

Whether the employment of the block? be permanent or temporary, its employment compels the switchman to hold the switch lever C while the engine and train are passing. This is a safeguard against such accidents as are caused by trains running into open switches of siding's, &c., for the reason that the accidents are usually caused by meg lect to return the switch to normal position; and therefore, a device of this character, which compels the operator to hold the switch in operative position, removes the element of carelessness or forgetfulness.

Having thus described our invention, we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. A safety attachment for switches having a locking table provided with looking recesses in the edge thereof, comprising a block-like member adapted to fill said recesses, and members retaining said block-like member in said recesses.

2. A safety attachment for switches having a locking table provided with recesses in the edge thereof, a block-like member having an engaging extension adapted to hold the said block-like member in position on the said table so that the top of the table and block-like member are flush, and means for holding said block-like member in said recesses.

3. A safety attachmentv for switches having a locking table provided with locking recesses in the edge thereof, comprising a bloclelike member adapted to fit in said recesses so that the top of the said table and block-like member are flush, guides for maintaining the relative positions of said blocklike member and said table, and means for fastening the said block-like member in said recesses.

4:. A safety attachment for switches having a locking table provided with locking recesses in the edge thereof, comprising a block-like member having an extension provided with an eyelet to receive a fastening chain, a fastening chain for said block-like member anchored to the stand of said switch, a dowel extended from said block-like memher to fit a hole provided in said table for the support of said block, and a resilient detent adapted to snap over a structural ridge in said table to hold the said block in operative position in said recess.

5. A safety attachment for switch stands having a locking table provided with look ing recesses in the edge thereof and a perforation adjacent thereto, comprising a block having an extension provided with an eye to receive a chain, a chain attached to said extension and anchored upon the switch stand, a pin extended from the end of said block and adapted to fit within a hole provided in said table, a detent secured to said block and adapted to extend under said table and provided in its free end with a perforation arranged to aline with the said perforation in said table said perforation being arranged to receive and hold a fastening device for holding the block in position in said recess. In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CORNELIUS BURKE.

YVILLIAM E. HARRINGTON.

Vitnesses C. S. LAWSOR, E. M. HARRINGTON. 

